Review Information
Game Reviewed Super Mario Country, by DJ Coco
Review Author Q-Nova
Created Apr 17 2015, 5:59 PM

General Commentary and Game Overview
In a day at Mario's Castle, Mario was sitting in his throne, and feeling bored. However, a Lakitu visited Mario's Castle, and requested help. There was a country that the Lakitu lived on, and it was under attack by the Thunder Zone. Nobody knows where the Thunder Zone came from, but they know that they have sent out their minions to conquer each zone. Each zone's king have been brainwashed by the Thunder Zone's minions, and they hold the keys to the Thunder Zone gate.

Mario went on his skypop, and drove to the Lakitu's country. Since he can't access Thunder Zone as there is a gate, and the lighting would strike his skypop, he decided to get the keys from the brainwashed kings.

Well, I've heard that you felt like you need to go on a trip, and you are wondering if this trip is worthy enough for your time. So I'll review the trip. The story above is made up, as there is no story, but it's not like every game needs a story, right?
 
Pros +It's based on one of the best Mario games ever
+Good ideas for the worlds
+You can tackle the worlds in any order (though, the Thunder Zone will always be last)
+Good selection of music tracks
 
Cons -Unforgiving difficultly
-The item shop's inside looks dull
-Lacks a story
 
Impressions
Gameplay
8 / 10
If you are familiar with Super Mario Land 2, then you should know most of the gameplay here. Your goal is to ring the bell, which can found in the end point of the level. There is also a bell in the middle of a level, which behaves as a checkpoint. Oh, and the game is supposed to emulate the Gameboy feel. However, some parts make it feel like something more than the Gameboy. But it shouldn't be a big problem to you. Anyway, I'd like to talk about the powerups. The game has the same powerups from Super Mario Land 2, which proves that this country is actually a sister to the land that has Mario's Castle in it. Sometimes the fireballs disappear without even hitting a wall or a enemy, but I think that is fixed. The bunny ears work just fine, but it can be a little problem to you if you are trying to bounce off a note block. Once you bounce off a note block while you have bunny ears, you are most likely to be forced to get down, because note blocks and bunny ears don't get well together.

Whew, I guess it's time to talk about the biggest problem of the game. No, it's not the fact that it lacks a story. It's the difficultly. The difficultly of this game doesn't go well of the fact that you can tackle the worlds in any order, because a few are very challenging, and they might be the player's first worlds. It'd be nice if the difficulty of the worlds are displayed, so the player could pick the ones that have the lowest of all.

The bosses are okay, most of them are from Super Mario Land 2, but a few of them are original. However, that Piranha Plant statue boss might be a little troublesome to some people. Because there is a chance that it might be the player's first boss. You can't stomp on it, while almost all of the other bosses are stompable.

Okay, am I talking too much about the difficultly? How about we talk about something different, as I'll be moving into the graphics, shall we?
 
Graphics
9 / 10
As it's supposed to be a Gameboy-esque game, the graphics look like they were from the Gameboy. Most of the tileset is custom, which is a nice thing to see. Mario and the enemies aren't custom (well, a couple of the original bosses are custom), but that's not a problem, as they aren't overused or anything. Some enemies were taken from non-Gameboy games, but they are recolored to the Gameboy colors. However, as they are just recolored, some of them look a little out of place.

There is an item shop in the game, and the inside of it looks a bit boring. It's just bricks and pipes. Perhaps having pictures hang above the pipes could make it look more nicer, along with some decorations.

To make it look more Gameboy-ey, there is scanlines. There is even an option to turn it off, which is a good thing, in case if the scanlines make you a little queasy.
 
Sound
9 / 10
There is a good selection of music tracks here, most of them are from Mario games, but I noticed that a few of them are from non-Mario games. It's okay, because they still sound fitting. Oh, and I forgot to mention something. In a Space Zone level, you'll get to hear the Moon theme from DuckTales. Yes, I said it. I never heard this theme in a fangame before, so great choice, DJ Coco! The Starman theme though, could have been replaced with something else. It just doesn't sound like it would belong to the Gameboy, and doesn't go together with the other tracks that well.

The sounds are from Super Mario Land 2. A few actions could use some sounds, but that's just it.
 
Replay
6 / 10
Unlike Super Mario Land 2, there is no secret levels here. However, there is a lot of bonus rooms in the levels, so I would count that as replay value. But once you find all the little secrets, there is pretty much no point to play this again.
 
Final Words
8 / 10
Need to go on a nostalgia trip? Then this should be the trip for you!

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